Let's make a deal: A Joe Biden presidency and narrow majorities in Congress could boost moderates' clout
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WASHINGTON – When more than a dozen lawmakers unveiled a coronavirus stimulus bill last week, it was more than just a good-faith effort to broker a bipartisan compromise on a standoff that has lasted months.
It was, they hope, a sign of things to come.
Though momentum for the $908 billion proposal is building on both sides of the aisle, it's not certain that the compromise will lead to a pre-Christmas deal to help families, small businesses and local governments squeezed by the pandemic's unrelenting grip.
But victory or not, the moderates behind the package – Republicans and Democrats, House members and senators – are signaling they plan to be more than bystanders when a new Congress is sworn into office in January.
“Republicans and Democrats – neither of us got everything we wanted. (But) both of us got much of what we wanted," Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said in a news conference announcing the COVID-19 proposal. "And I think that combination reflects what Congress is supposed to do: reconciling different priorities but ultimately doing something for the American people.”
Moderates are hoping to build on such moments next year when, after four years of relatively few broad legislative accomplishments, they are likely to wield more power on Capitol Hill.
Their optimism is based on a few factors.
President-elect Joe Biden's decades-long relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other senior leaders could lead to more dealmaking on Capitol Hill. The expected return of congressional earmarks could help grease the wheels for passage of certain legislation. And regardless of the outcomes in the Jan. 5 Georgia runoff elections that will determine control of the Senate, narrow partisan advantages in both chambers should provide centrists greater clout to bargain.
That's giving moderates renewed optimism that next year could yield deals related to stalled issues such as infrastructure, criminal justice and clean energy in the same way they came together on coronavirus relief.
"One of the key messages of this election is the American people want stuff to get done," said Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., who chairs the centrist-leaning New Democrat Coalition. "There is not an appetite among constituents for disfunction and gridlock. They want progress on their behalf and that’s what our members want too."
House moderates made important strides in the current term, getting a rule passed that requires a floor vote on any bill with at least 290 co-sponsors – or two-thirds of the chamber. The change reduces the authority House Democratic leaders have in deciding which measures deserve consideration.
They also were instrumental last year in forcing passage of a $4.6 billion humanitarian aid package to help migrant children at the southern border over opposition from liberals and the initial objections of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calling for stronger protections.
Rep. Tom Reed, the New York Republican who co-chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus that championed the rules change and the humanitarian aid deal, said there's a significant opportunity for compromise in the next Congress. And he's hopeful that Biden, with whom he has worked and whom he calls an "institutionalist," will push for more bipartisan deals.
But while Democrats hope political rancor will diminish in Washington with the departure of President Donald Trump next month, Reed said partisan division on Capitol Hill still wields a powerful gravitational pull that contributes to gridlock – no matter who's in the White House.
"There’s no relationship between the present leadership and rank-and-file members. There’s no relationship between members in leadership with other members of leadership. They don’t know each other. They don’t talk to each other. They don’t trust each other. There’s no relationship between the two chambers, between their two leaderships," Reed said. "It’s all politics. 24-7. It’s us versus them.”
Moderates say one way to ease the thaw might be the return of earmarks, funding for specific projects usually inserted by lawmakers into broad spending bills.
A bridge to nowhere, anyone? Congress weighs return of earmarks to ease gridlock in 2021
Eliminated nearly a decade ago in an effort to contain the spiraling federal debt, earmarks are seen as a way to build bipartisan support for bills by including money for projects or programs important to individual members.
Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based think tank, said the chances of dealmaking are more likely if the Democrats win both the Georgia Senate seats next month and take control of Congress.
Otherwise, he said, McConnell will have the unilateral power to decide what comes to the floor for a vote regardless of what Republican centrists such as Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah want.
“If Mitch McConnell did not feel in his own ruthlessly pragmatic self-interest and the interests of his party to deal with Biden or to make accommodations for Biden, he wouldn’t do it," he said.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., incoming chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said he expects Democrats will be the biggest obstructionists on Capitol Hill because of infighting between leaders, moderates and far-left members such as "The Squad," an informal group of progressive lawmakers often the target of criticism from Trump.
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"The Democrats will have a constant food fight between The Squad and Pelosi, and there will be a complete breakdown with little progress on Capitol Hill," Banks recently told reporters. "Democrats will be so mired in the infighting between the two wings of their party that the American people get sick of it very quickly."
But key Senate moderates are preparing for next year.
West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, who helped broker the COVID-19 relief deal announced last week, and Republican Collins already are talking about proposals they could team up on, such as an infrastructure bill.
"There are issues that are important for all of us, and there happens to be one side or the other coming at it strictly on a partisan basis. Maybe I can bring them both together in the middle," Manchin said.
"Everybody's not wrong, and everybody's not right. And your side, just because you believe something doesn't make it so. So if I can say: 'OK, you want my vote? Here's how I see it,' can we accommodate both sides to a certain extent so we all come out winners?"
Contributing: Christal Hayes
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New Congress: Moderates may get boost with Joe Biden, tight majorities
